You Won't Win With AI Unless You Do These 3 Things

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Key Takeaways

Don’t use AI the same way you use search engines. Think of AI as a real-life strategic consultant and give it context to work with.
When using AI for content creation, understand that it’s best used through iteration instead of just initiation. A first draft is better when written by a human who understands context, human emotions and subjective ideas.
Shift from asking to doing — the goal is to get AI to not only create ideas but take it step further by executing the task.

Artificial intelligence is taking over the business world. Every entrepreneur is currently looking for ways to integrate this latest technology into their workflow. As AI becomes a ubiquitous part of running a company, it’s critical for business owners to understand how to get the most out of this powerful tool. The challenge is that AI is still widely underutilized, leaving massive amounts of value on the table. The problem isn’t adoption — it’s execution.

Many business owners are still treating AI like a glorified word processor when it’s capable of so much more. The proof is in the data. According to a report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), only a small percentage of the total ChatGPT user base (700 million weekly users) is getting a significant amount of value from AI. The data revealed that most use of ChatGPT is for consumer purposes, such as looking up recipes, asking for health advice or helping recommend a name for the family’s new pet turtle.

Only 27% of all use was for business purposes. This shows a massive gap between the rates of adoption and strategic application. Entrepreneurs that recognize this opportunity and adapt the way they use AI have the potential to tap into exponential competitive advantage and move the needle on revenue.

If you think you need to be a Python expert or full-stack developer to unlock AI’s full potential, you’re mistaken. The NBER paper found that just three basic use cases were enough to set top AI users apart from the pack.

1. From information desk to strategic consultant

The most valuable, yet underutilized, function that the NBER study identified was practical guidance. The challenge here is that most business owners try to use AI the same way they use search engines. They provide a very basic prompt and take the first result they are given. For example, a business owner might ask ChatGPT, “How can I increase revenue for my coffee shop?” This type of tactical request will yield nothing more than basic, regurgitated ideas that provide minimal benefit.

Instead, think of AI as a real-life strategic consultant. Would you simply ask a human consultant one basic question? No. You’d have an entire conversation that includes context, information about your regular customers, local competition, differentiation and other constraints. You can also ask the AI to identify potential risks, brainstorm ideas, simulate difficult negotiations with a vendor or model impacts to revenue in an economic downturn.

2. The perfect digital editor

The most common business use of AI (about 40% of all prompts) was requests to produce some form of writing. This can provide a great advantage for entrepreneurs as writing social media content, creating sales decks and responding to customer emails requires a significant number of hours. High-value users go beyond basic draft creation and focus on using AI for editing, refining, translating and summarizing content.

The key to success is understanding that AI is best used through iteration instead of just initiation. The reality is that a first draft is almost always better when written by a human who understands context, human emotions and subjective ideas.

Instead of spending hours staring at a blank page attempting perfection, entrepreneurs can focus on the 80% that requires unique perspective and expertise, but also the least amount of effort. From there, AI can polish the document, clean up spelling and grammatical errors, tighten the language for brevity, simplify confusing jargon and select the right tone.

3. Shift from asking to doing

The study from NBER found that most prompts fell into one of three categories: asking (seeking information), expressing (sharing thoughts or opinions) and doing (asking AI to complete a tangible task). Over half (56%) of all prompts by high-value business uses fell into the last category. The difference in output is significant.

The problem with simply asking a question is that the results must then be acted upon by the human users. Action is where the bulk of the work happens. Instead, your end result should be getting the AI to not only create ideas but also take it a step further by executing the task.

Asking prompt: “Give me some ideas for a social media campaign.”
Expressing prompt: “Here is a list of social media campaign ideas. Which option do you think will have the most impact on X demographic?”
Doing prompt: “Act as a marketing strategist. Review the attached marketing plan and create a 5-point email outline for a cold lead campaign that targets B2B CTOs.”

As you can see, the “doing” prompt in the example above has a specific goal of producing a clear, executable output. By making simple changes to how you create prompts, entrepreneurs can unlock new levels of productivity and effectiveness.

The small businesses and entrepreneurs that win over the next decade won’t be the ones who chase the fanciest AI tools. It will be the ones who learn how to get the maximum benefit from AI by shifting their team’s use from low-value, generic tasks to high-leverage strategic use.

Key Takeaways

Don’t use AI the same way you use search engines. Think of AI as a real-life strategic consultant and give it context to work with.
When using AI for content creation, understand that it’s best used through iteration instead of just initiation. A first draft is better when written by a human who understands context, human emotions and subjective ideas.
Shift from asking to doing — the goal is to get AI to not only create ideas but take it step further by executing the task.

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